Young readers can lift a flap and take a peek under the hood of a powerful NASCAR race car or get an inside look at what goes on in a NASCAR garage. Lift another flap and you can help the pit crew change a tire on a colorful race car. Pull up another flap and you can "drive" a NASCAR race car across the finish line and much more.
About Doug Chezem
"My career as a Commercial Artist began in 1974 when I landed a job as a paid intern at one the largest of the old style Big Studios on the East Coast. It was the last of the big studios from the Golden Age of Illustration and Commercial Art: Creative Arts. This was a time when the industry was moving towards smaller Design Firms and outsourcing Illustration. I was lucky enough to be apprenticed to a couple of old timers who taught me commercial painting and Airbrush illustration techniques. I learned from two of the best airbrush artists in the business; Irv Aronson and Booth Farcus. In addition to the Art Department, I was also apprenticed to the Design Department where I learned Graphic Design techniques."
"I advanced to Art Director, moving upward to three different Design Studios and eventually moved up to Advertising."
"In between corporate gigs, I started my freelance business and opened the Chezem Studio in 1980.
On my third stint as an Ad Agency Vice President and Creative Director, I became increasingly dissatisfied with the distance I had created between my work and my love for art and illustration. So I threw off the Corporate suit and tie, and set up shop as a full time freelance illustrator."
"I made the transition from Airbrush to Electronic Media in 1986 and began to specialize in Digital Painting for the Science, Technology and Telecommunications industries and the Business to Business Market.
In 1987 I started a Digital Studio spinoff, and Acme Pixel, the Chezem Studio Pixel Factory, was born."
Acme Pixel specializes in Digital 3D CGI, for Advertising, Corporate/Institutional and Editorial markets.
"I have lectured on Electronic Art at George Washington University, at the Corcoran School Of Art and for the Art Director's Club in Washington DC. I have also lectured on and demonstrated Digital Art techniques for Agencies and Design firms. During the 1990's I was a Macintosh Digital Art Evangelist to local Ad Agencies and TimeLife Books."
Doug's background includes Airbrush Illustration, Scientific and Technical Visualization, Advertising, and Exhibit Design and Construction.
"My Commercial style and speciality is Stylized Realism. My work is a mix of traditional media techniques and, digital methods using stateoftheart 2D and 3D CGI software.
I am currently pursuing a more painterly style using digital tools, and am developing a series of posters and books for sale from my fine art site at Chezem.com.
Chezem.com will showcase my artbooks, posters, portraits and paintings."
Acme Pixel is the Commercial/Industrial all-digital Art studio, doing Editorial, Book, and Advertising illustration for the Trade. It is also the publishing company for the Chezem Studio; Acme Pixel Publishing.
Doug's technique and work methods
"I use a Wacom Cintiq Graphics Tablet/Screen with the Art Pen and Stylus, on a MacBook Pro with a 23 inch Flat Panel on my old Arnal design table. Thanks to computers, my studio workspace has shrunk but I still maintain my old "Analog" oil and acrylic painting studio. I used to paint on Strathmore board at 30x40 and 40x80 size. Now I can paint anywhere with my MacBook Pro and Tablet. [and an extension cord]."
"Adobe Photoshop is my primary software tool. Everything I create starts out and ends up in Photoshop. I was a beta tester for the prerelease version in 1989, and have been using it ever since. Over the years it has become the DeFacto world standard for 2D imaging and painting. Before that I was using Adobe Illustrator when it first came out in 1987, and Color Studio which has since evolved into Fractal Design Painter, currently published as Corel Painter. I gave up the perspective grids, pens, templates and curves and adopted 3D software in 1989. My first 3D app was Swivel 3D. Over the years I've tried them all and finally found a real gem from Maxon Computer called Cinema 4D BodyPaint. I've been using Cinema 4D in tandem with Photoshop since 1999. But I will always have a soft spot in my heart for my previous favorites, the venerable LightWave 3D and Electric Image Animation System, both still on the market today."
"My latest and most exciting software program is Zbrush from Pixologic. Zbrush is an amazing application that brings together traditional drawing, painting, and sculpting with new 3D modeling and 2.5D paint. I'm slowly learning how to use it and incorporate it into my current workflow.
But one thing that has never changed is my use of Pencil and Paper. I don't think anyone can improve on that even though many have tried."
